Winning a thrilling play-off, Nguyen Anh Minh entered the top 16 best golfers of the Western Amateur Championship 2025

TPO - Nguyen Anh Minh continues his extraordinary journey on the international arena when he officially won the right to enter the knockout round of the Western Amateur Championship 2025 in the US.

Anh Minh (top row, 4th from left) is in the top 16 best golfers of Western Amateur 2025.

This is not only a special milestone in the career of the golfer born in 2007, but also the first time a Vietnamese representative has gone so far in the more than 120-year history of this prestigious and harsh tournament.

The 5th day of competition witnessed a truly harsh challenge for Anh Minh: 36 consecutive holes in one day, requiring physical strength, strategy and mental endurance. Accompanying Anh Minh was Le Khanh Hung, a close friend who stopped after the first 36 holes and now acts as his caddie.

In the morning, Anh Minh maintained a stable performance, completing the round with 70 strokes (even par). But when entering the afternoon, the challenge became much more severe when Anh Minh had 5 bogeys and 1 double bogey and the risk of elimination was clearly in sight.

However, as Anh Minh himself has shown many times in major tournaments, the bravery of Vietnam's number 1 golfer once again spoke up. He scored an important birdie at hole 9, continued to regain hope with a birdie at hole 13 and especially the decisive birdie at hole 18, which was also the final hole (hole 72).

Khanh Hung works as a caddy for Anh Minh.

This result brought Anh Minh to the end of the 4-round stroke play in T11 position with a total score of -1, exactly 1 stroke away from the cut. However, being in a group of 7 golfers tied for 11th place, Anh Minh had to enter a play-off series to compete for the last 6 spots in the knockout round.

On the course, the atmosphere became extremely tense. After 3 thrilling play-off holes, Nguyen Anh Minh won the ticket to continue, becoming one of the 16 best golfers of the tournament.

The Western Amateur, founded in 1899, is one of the most prestigious and rigorous amateur tournaments in the United States, where legends such as Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Phil Mickelson have engraved their names on the George R. Thorne Cup.

This year's tournament takes place from July 29 to August 2 at Skokie Country Club (Illinois, USA), bringing together 156 young golf talents from all over the world . After two rounds of 18-hole stroke play, the 44 golfers with the best scores and the same rank will pass the first cut round, to continue to compete in 36 holes of stroke play and the second cut. The 16 names with the best results will enter the knockout round to compete for the championship.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/thang-play-off-nghet-tho-nguyen-anh-minh-vao-top-16-golfer-xuat-sac-nhat-western-amateur-championship-2025-post1765547.tpo